Is Putin 'eager' to recreate the Soviet Union?

(Baonghean.vn) - "The Soviet Union should have been reformed, not collapsed," Express quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 24 during a meeting with party leaders following the recent parliamentary elections.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and former President Mikhail Gorbachev – who declared the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Photo: Internet.

Meeting with leaders of parties represented in the 7th convocation of the Russian State Duma, President Vladimir Putin said: “You should know my view on the collapse of the Soviet Union. Things shouldn’t have gone that way. Reforms could have been carried out to allow the Soviet Union to continue to exist with democratic characteristics. But I want to make it clear that the Communist Party is responsible for the fate of the Soviet Union, not any other party.”

Putin made this statement amid rising tensions between Russia and the West. Some believe his action could be perceived as a new provocative move.

The Soviet Union dissolved on December 26, 1991, after President Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and last president of the Soviet Union, announced his resignation and transferred power to the new president, Boris Yeltsin.

However, according to Putin, the Soviet Communist Party should have undertaken reforms to transform the Soviet Union into a democratic entity instead of declaring its dissolution.

The Communist Party of Russia remains a political force with representation in the Russian State Duma.

Earlier, in a speech to Parliament in April 2005, President Putin also called the collapse of the Soviet Union "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century."

His statement was quoted by the world media, suggesting that Russia wanted to return to a socialist regime.

Last year, in an interview, Putin frankly stated that Russia had no plans to return to the Soviet era, but he complained, "Nobody believes me."

Putin accused European governments of using this to create confusion among Russians, and of prompting some former Soviet states like Ukraine to take inappropriate actions to counter “imaginary threats.”

Diep Khanh

(According to Express)